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Thursday, 15 November 2012

BP fined, charged in oil spill

Oil giant BP and three of its employees were indicted on
criminal charges including manslaughter and obstruction of Congress on top of a
record $4-billion fine that the company will pay the government for its role in
the oil spill disaster that scarred the Gulf of Mexico.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the
indictments in a televised news conference from New Orleans,
where the grand jury has been investigating the 2010 explosion of the Deepwater
Horizon oil rig off the Louisiana
coast. Eleven people died in the explosion.

T

he announcement of the charges against BP employees came on
the same day officials announced that BP had agreed to an unprecedented
settlement involving a guilty plea to criminal charges.

In addition, BP agreed to pay more than $525 million in
civil penalties to satisfy complaints by the Securities and Exchange
Commission. That brings the total settlement cost to more than $4.5 billion –
not including the billions the company has already paid to settle civil claims
from residents, fishermen and businesses harmed by the spill.

In all, the company said it agreed to enter guilty pleas to
14 charges, including the eleven counts of manslaughter. But the government
went further, charging individuals as well.

Two BP employees, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, who were
described by Holder as the two highest-ranking BP supervisors on board the
Deepwater Horizon when it exploded, were charged with manslaughter and other
counts.